Strategic Public Relations

The REAL Wisdom of Flash Mobs, Crowd Sourcing and Social Shopping

Happy Holidays from FRCH from Dan Reynolds on Vimeo.**

When I see trends discussing crowd sourcing, wisdom of the crowds or flash mobs, I'm always reminded of the misconception of "free PR."

The misconception behind all of these shiny topics is the assumption that in some capacity they're faster, they're cheaper, they're easier to execute or, in some cases, they're "free" because they involve passionate consumers.

This could not be farther from the truth. he REAL wisdom behind all of this is the reality. You have to participate in the crowd and be a member of the community to get their wisdom or their support. This may not apply to certain instances like social shopping (a price break is an exchange of value) but it certainly applies to other areas of social media.  See Trust Agents "Build an Army" chapter for more background.

It takes a commitment, not a campaign to move the needle.

**Last year, I organized this Flash Mob and we used the video as the fulfillment piece of my then employer's holiday card. I was a member of the community so it was easy to get my co-workers involved. The request was sent out to everyone in the company. But since we did this on our lunch hour it was done on a volunteer basis.

10 Years in One Picture?

The ability to boil down a lot of information without oversimplifying it is an art and a science. This NYTimes inforgraphic, "Picturing the Past 10 Years," illustrates my point quite literally. This opinionated summation of a decade of news reminds me that if you can't boil content down to something simple and easy to remember, perhaps it's too complex?